Phillies

Phillies’ Aaron Nola loses out on Cy Young award to Mets’ Jacob deGrom

Aaron Nola turned in his best season as a Phillie, but it wasn’t good enough for the Cy Young.

CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

As expected, Aaron Nola did not win the 2018 National League Cy Young award.

The Phillies ace finished third in voting behind winner Jacob deGrom, of the Mets, and the Nationals' Max Scherzer, who finished second, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced Wednesday.

Although Nola wasn't expected to beat out division rivals deGrom and Scherzer, he did turn in his best season of his brief career in 2018. The 25-year-old righthander reached 200 innings for the first time. He started opening day and finished with a 2.37 ERA.

Historically, his 2018 looks pretty good, too. Nola is only the second Phillies pitcher to strike out at least 200 batters and hold opponents to a .200 average or lower in a season. The other was Grover Cleveland Alexander, and he did it in 1915.

Nola is the first homegrown Phillies pitcher to finish in the top three in Cy Young balloting. His 86 votes are the most for a Phillie since Cliff Lee picked up 90 in 2011 (he finished third; Roy Halladay finished second).